Raven, the princess of Halloween
by ScarlettLetter12061995
Summary: Raven never did fit in in the human world, but when a burlap man named Oogie Boogie kidnaps her, she must use her wits, strength and the help of her friends to get home and discover who she really is.
1. Abandoned

It was a dark and stormy Halloween night in Salem, Massachusetts,

And a living rag doll named, Sally, carried a bundle of clothes in the darkness.

She stumbled on the gravel road, up to the black bricked home, lit with orange lights and the candles within jack o' lanterns.

She walked up to the porch, where she set the bundle down and pulled the cloth to reveal a baby girl, with long hair that was black as night, her skin was as white as bone, her lips were blood red, and her eyes were ice blue, and she was born 6 hours ago.

Sally knelt down next to the baby, slipped a note in the cloth and kissed her good-bye.

"I love you, my sweet, sweet child." She whispered with kindness.

She knocked on the door of the house and ran form the house, back to Halloween town

The door of the house opened, revealing a married couple.

" What was that, Frank?"

"I don't know, maybe it was some ki… hey, what's this?"

He looked down on the baby and picked it up.

"It's a baby, Susan."

"I can see that, hey there's a note."

She picked it out and read it out loud.

"Dear Whoever,

Because of reasons you could not understand, you must please take care of my baby, her name is Raven, and she was born today. Please I beg of you, do not tell her about me.

Signed,

Sally"

"So, what do we do?"

"We take care of it, silly."


	2. Kidnapped

16 years later…

"I hate you!!!" Yelled Raven.

"What are you talking about, Raven?" asked her father

"Don't play dumb with me, Frank, I found this." She said as she threw down the note left

with her on the night she was left at Frank and Susan Black of Salem, Massachusetts, 16

years ago.

"I knew I was adopted, I just knew it, but for you to keep it a secret from me is just

unthinkable!"

"Where did you find this?"

"In my baby box, but that's besides the point, I wouldn't mind being an orphan if you

told me, but…but…I running away!"

"What!"

"You heard me!" She screamed as she ran out the door and into the streets of urban

Salem that Halloween night. She ran to the woods of darkness and screams. Her black

Converse crashed against the fallen leafs of trees;

Her black and orange striped leggings; ripped entirely against the thorn bushes, leaving

only her black shorts; the sleeves of her black shirt torn away by hand-like tree branches.

She threw herself up against a blackening, hollow tree and began to cry tears of

unbearable sadness. Suddenly, she felt a burlap hand wrap around her neck.

" Well, well, well! What have we here? A little bird out of its cage." Said the burlap creature

gravely.

" Get off me, you sicko!"

"Now why would I let such a pretty bird, such a pretty raven, go? A girl with such long,

shadow black hair, such pale blue eyes, such bloody red lips, such death white skin,

should be treasured, in a cage more like home." He said as he wrap his other burlap hand

around her waist.

"I said get off me!" Raven screamed as she bite the hand on her neck.

The creature screamed with pain and threw her across the clearing and grabbed his hand

in pain.

"Oh ho, I like 'em feisty, ha ha ha. Boys, get her."

She suddenly felt a large bag trap her like an animal. She tried to find a way out, but it

was no use, if there was one, she couldn't find it. She then started to hear noises

coming from out the bag.

"Shock, you're not helping."

"Yes I am, Barrel's not doing anything."

"Yes I am just lift."

Then she suddenly felt herself being lifted into what felt like a bathtub.

" You're gonna pay for that, doll face!" said the burlap man sinisterly

" Who are you?" Raven asked in a slightly terrified voice.

"Oogie, doll face, Mr. Oogie Boogie, oh, and don't try to get out, you ain't going no

where. Take her away, boys." And with that the bathtub began to move to Oogie's lair.


	3. Pushed

As the bathtub rocked back and forth to Halloween Town, Raven began to fall into a deep sleep.

She dreamed about her real mother and father and what her life would have been like if they kept her.

"Get up!" she heard an annoying voice demanded.

Raven woke with a start. She looked around to find that she was still in the bag.

"Lock, get her out of the bag." Ordered a high-pitched voice.

" No way, Shock; Barrel, you do it." Commanded the one called Lock.

"Ok, ok!" said the one called Barrel.

As he said this, the bag opened to reveal sliver of light. She jumped towards the opening, but a loop of

rope wrapped around her arms and she fell to the wooden floor of Lock, Shock and Barrel's tree house.

"Oww! Where the hell am I?" questioned Raven.

"You ask too many questions." She heard Shock said.

Raven looked behind herself to see three children, one in a devil costume, one in a witch costume, and

one in a skeleton costume.

"Get her to Oogie Boogie, he doesn't like to be kept waiting." Said Barrel.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, but you are!" said Lock.

He tried to pick her up, but she kicked him in the nose before he could even touch her.

Green blood began to ooze from his nose as he cried out in pain.

"You little slute, you broke my nose!!"

"I'll take care of this," said Shock. " Barrel, take care of Lock's nose."

"Right!"

Shock then began to tie more ropes around Raven, until she couldn't more. Later, Barrel and Lock

returned, Lock's nose was bandaged and treated.

"Ok, now she can't move or kick you in the nose again."

"She better not!"

Lock, Shock and Barrel crowded around her and placed their hands underneath her.

"Ok, on the count of three, 1, 2, 3, LIFT."

The three children lifted Raven up into a pipe that looked like a mouth.

"So long, girly!" said Lock and with that, they threw her down the metal duct to her doom.

She clicked and clacked down the small metal tube, which really sucked, because she's claustrophobic.

The pipe ended with an eight foot drop to a table. She landed on her shoulder with a thud, the rope kind

of broke the fall, but not really, considering how thin the rope was.

Trying to ignore her throbbing shoulder, she looked to see that she was in a gambling den.

Looking closer, she saw that it was also a torture chamber, with many horrible devices that made her

quiver at the thought of being in them. She suddenly heard an all to familiar, sinister laugh.

"Well, look who finally made it." Oogie Boogie's head appeared in front of Raven and

loomed over her and smiled at her in a menacing way.

"Now, let's make you more comfortable." And he coughed up about twenty scorpions

and they began to cut away at the ropes, but she squirmed as they crawled a over her

body and screamed,

"Get them off, get them off me, you basterd!!"

"What is it, little darlin', don't like bugs? Ha ha ha!"

"I hate bugs, there's nothing I hate more than bugs!"

"Relax, babe, just let my babies do there job."

Raven had hated bugs, ever since she was little and it was an act of will not to scream in

terror, but she couldn't stand Oogie seeing her in a state of weakness. After what seemed

like forever, the scorpions finally finished cutting the rope and leapt back into Oogie.

She jumped off the table, clutching her chest and breathing heavily, she felt like she was

going to have a heart attack. And then she remembered who had almost given that heart

attack. She turned around, her hand in a fist, aimed right for Oogie Boogie's smug,

burlap face, but he moved his hand and grabbed her fist in mid-air and began to squeeze.

"Now is that anyway to treat the man that just freed you?"

"I don't care if you found a cure for cancer! Oww!"

"I'm I hurting you?"

"It'll take a lot more than that to hurt me."

"Well then, let me try a little harder." and he wrapped his arm around her, so she couldn't

move and he squeeze tighter. Raven felt her ribcage slowly compressing. She gasped for

air.

"How about now?"

"Not by a long shoot." Raven said weakly, barely having enough air to speak.

He reached down and stroke her long, white leg."

"Aw, lovely, just like your mother's."

"Alright, that's it!!" she screamed. She had dealt with so much today, but this was it.

She kneed him in the stomach and he stumbling back and gripped his chest in agony. She

climbed over thetable and jumped for the shoot. She barely got her fingers to clasped the

edge of the metal frame.

"You're really trying my patients, girly!" Oogie tried to regain his balance and straight

face. Raven swung her legs to the pipe and tried to get into the pipe. but she felt herself

being pulled by an invisible force. she tried to hang on, but it was no use, her fingers

slip away and her being pulled towards Oogie Boogie and felt herself going inside of

him. The inside of him was dark and small.

"It's ok, just calm down," she told herself. "It's going to be fine."

She suddenly realized the crawling sensation all over her body. She knew what it was all

too well… BUGS!

She shrieked in pure horror. Then she began to cry, there was no way of holding it in.

"PLEASE, PLEASE LET ME OUT!!" she screamed, tears choking her up.

"PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING!!"

"Do you promise to behave?"

"YES, YES, ANYTHING, JUST LET ME OUT!! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU"

Then she felt herself being sucked out of Oogie Boogie and then flying threw the air. She

then felt cold, hard metal hit against her skin. She looking around to see she ran into the

metal bed of a prison cell. She turned around to see Oogie close the door and lock it.

"Welcome to your new home, doll." he walked away, laughing to himself.

"You're a sick bastard, you know that!" she screamed and then she began to cry. About

what? A number of things; having the most traumatic moment in her life, being touch in

a sickening way, being capture by a horrible monster… but more than ever, it was that

she had a perfect home back in Salem that she just couldn't be happy with. She wanted

to go home, real parents or not.


	4. Alyss and Guinevere

Hours and hours passed, as Raven sat there in shock. She sat there in a fetal position,

staring into her knees. She was in so much fear, she couldn't move.

_click…click_

She looked around quickly,

"Lock… Shock… Barrel… cut it out, I've had enough crap from Oogie today!"

_click… click_

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." a kind voice reassured in the darkness.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Alyss, I'm your new roommate."

"She yourself!"

"OK, but you're not going to like it."

Out of the shadows, a spider woman appeared. The lower half of her body looked like

the thorax of a black widow, the upper half was a girl. She had pale skin like Raven's,

but she had short snow-white hair and ruby red eyes. She looked shy and meek,

but Raven still retreated back into a corner, horror-stricken.

"Please, I know you're afraid of me, but I promise you, I won't hurt you."

"Get away from me, you freak!"

"Alright if you insist, but take this," she threw a moth-eaten linen blanket.

"It gets cold down here." she crawled into the other corner and began to sleep.

Raven tried to get comfortable, but couldn't, so she just sat there, staring at Alyss,

terrified, but intrigued. She was about to fall asleep, when Oogie came busting through

the dungeon doors, holding a girl by her neck holding her about 2 inches above the

ground. The girl had her fingers clasped around his burlap hand, trying to pry it off,

but it was no use, he was too strong. He walked towards the cage with anger in his

hollow eyes. He opened the door to the prison and threw her in. She skidded across the

floor, she was covered in blood.

"Let's hope you learned a lesson, Gwen" and he shut the door, but the girl ran to it and

tried to claw at him,

"You bastard, I'll kill you!"

"I'd love to see you try." he smirked and walked out the door.

"Ahhw, my eye." she screamed in pain the grabbed her eye, turned around and slide

down and sat on the floor. Blood was pouring from her left eye. Alyss jumped to her

legs. "Gwen, are you OK?"

"Do I look OK to you, my eye just got crushed in a game of dice! He cut me on

the ear, the leg, several times, my chest and my arm and-"

"Gwen, calm down!"

"Alright, who made him mad?" she looked over at Raven, who was staring at her in the

corner. Gwen had pretty fair skin for someone who lived in Halloween Town. She had

long, golden hair that reached down passed her back. She had lavender eye that

constantly glistened. (Except the one that was crushed, it was losing blood dramatically)

She was wearing a plum colored corset with silver ribbons. She was also wearing tight,

black shorts.

"You." She sneered.

"Gwen, I know you're angry and you've been more abused than usual, but-"

"Shut up!" and she pushed her out of the way and stoked towards Raven. She grabbed her

by the shirt collar and lifted her to her feet. Although Raven wasn't scared, she was

intimidated. Something about her just seemed powerful and aggressive. (Maybe it was

the fact that her left eye was crushed and she wasn't screaming in agony)

"Who the hell do you think you are? Don't you realize that if you make him made, we all

have to pay! What the hell did you do?"

"Kicked him in the stomach because he touched my leg."

"Well here's a little news flash for you, girl, it gets worse and you just have to deal with

it. I've been here for five years and everyday it gets worse, so get used to it, you little

bitch!" she threw her back on the ground and walked to the wall. She tapped her nails

on a couple of bricks, which opened to reveal a secret passage way. She trudged in the

brickway and the bricks closed behind her. There was a moment of silence for a while.

"Wow, 30 seconds… she must be pissed at you."


	5. An average day

"Who the hell was that?"

"Guinevere van Sang, the empress of vampires."

"What a bitch."

"SHUT UP!! Her eye just got compressed, so shut up!!"

"Geez, what's your problem?"

"She's my only friend and I won't let you talk about her like that."

"Ok, I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

Silence filled the room with acquired feelings. No one knew what to say, after all that had happened today, Raven had so many questions, but she couldn't bring them up. Then, the silence was broken,

"It's weird." Alyss stated to herself.

"What's weird, you, Oogie, this whole day, what?"

"It's just, you seem like a smart girl, how did you manage to get captured?"

"Well, today I found out that I'm an orphan and that my "parents" have been lying to me my whole life."

"Ouch,"

"So I ran away and into the forest, then my leggings and sleeves got ripped off, then I sat against a tree and cried and that's when he got me."

"Wait, before I tell you how stupid you are, answer me this, where do you live?"

"Salem."

"Ok, you're a complete idiot."

"Hey!"

"It's true."

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, it's Halloween, that's when he's the most powerful. Second, Salem is the hot spot for the people of Halloween Town. Third, you ran into the forest, where no one can help you or hear you scream. Fourth, you look like a stripper looking for a job. And finally, you made yourself vulnerable by crying."

"Wow, the way you say it, you make it sound like I'm a retard."

"Well you sure acted like you."

"Well how was I supposed to know there was a burlap monster stalking the forest for women to make his prostitutes?"

"I guess that's true, but even if there wasn't, someone could have kidnapped you."

"Yeah, I should have thought my actions through. So how did you get here?"

"Well, you might find this hard to believe, but I used to live in the human world."

"BS! You can't be serious."

"OH, but I am. I was a science experiment. They were trying to make super soldiers by mixing animal DNA with human DNA. But then they abandoned the idea, so one of the scientists took care of me. But on Halloween, about 2 years ago, while Lock, Shock and Barrel were trick or treating, they saw me in the backyard and thought I would make a nice present for Oogie. So they broke into my house, threatened to kill my mother unless I came, so I did and well, here I am."

"Whoa, 2 years?"

"Yeah, but Gwen was here for 3 years by herself."

"But Gwen's crazy, how did you do it without going nuts?"

"Gwen, she helped me through it. I'm not as tough as she is, and she's not crazy."

"Ok, so what's her story?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Alyss walked over to the wall, tapped the bricks with her black fingernails and a secret passage way opened.

"Just go to the right, in the solitary confinement room, she's probably there." Alyss nudged her in the doorway.

"Thanks." Raven said dryly.

She walked through the passage way and the bricks closed behind her. Small skulls with candles on them lit the way to the room with a metallic door. She opened it to find a small window-less room. 'Great' she thought. But she had to do it, so she stepped in and closed the door. She there realized a trail of blood leading to the far corner of the room, Gwen was sitting there, huddled with a bucket under her, she was still bleeding.

She cautiously walked over to the vampires and knelt down beside her. She realized Gwen was spitting into the bucket. It was about halfway full and the rust in of the bucket turned the spit orange and grosser.

"Hey, you ok?" Raven asked sympathetically.

Gwen just turned to her, stared at her in a you-know-exactly-how-I-feel look, turned again and spit into the bucket again. She didn't say a word; she just stared in to the bucket.

"Look… I'm sorry about you and Oogie, but I didn't know. If I had known, I would have let him get all over me."

Gwen chuckled softly, more to herself then to Raven.

"No you wouldn't, I know you wouldn't," she said in an amused way.

"How do you know?"

"Because I wouldn't. Look, even after 5 years of it, I still hate it"

"Then why did you act so crazy?"

"If your eye was crushed, all because someone made them mad, wouldn't you be mad too?"

"Yay, hey, by the way, shouldn't you get that fixed?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" she asked quizzically as she spit one last time into the bucket then stood up. She lifted the bucket over her head and dumped it on herself.

"Oh god, what did you do that for? Now the wounds will get infected."

"No they won't, look," she said as she showed her her arm.

There was a gapping wound on her arm from god knows what. It was so deep, you could see the bone. Slowly, it began to heal itself and so did the other wounds and her left eye slowly began to reconstruct its self. Soon, Guinevere looked as if nothing had happened to her.

"What the… how did you… what!"

"It's one of the perks of being a vampire, as Alyss puts it, I have super spit, its how I heal myself, Alyss and you when the time comes."

"Is it going to be as bad?"

"Maybe worse if he feels like it. Come on, let's go back, Alyss is probably worried that I killed you."

Gwen walked to the door and opened it wide, Raven's eyes stung as light flooded the room. Gwen saunter out of the room and Raven followed her like a lost puppy who just found a companion. Raven then remembered that the room she was just in was small and she wondered why she wasn't traumatized.

She didn't have much time to think about it though, because when they entered the cell, they found Lock, Shock and Barrel poking Alyss with sharp metal sticks. She would have defended herself, but they had stabbed her legs so much she couldn't move them. They were laughing as she screamed in pain. Both Raven and Gwen were shocked. Gwen started to breath heavily, her nails extended into claws, her pupils grew until completely overlapped the rest of her eye. Raven heard the seams in the back of Gwen's corset shirt rip. While the rest of the corset stayed, the back ripped and a pair of black bat wings fanned to a full length of a yard. She could see Gwen's teeth grow into amazingly long fangs. Gwen let out a horrifying high-pitched screech and bolted towards the 3 brats. They turned towards Gwen, but it was too late. She pounced on Barrel and began to scratch his face with her claws as he screamed in terror. Lock and Shock ran out of the cell and grabbed a pair of handcuffs and some rope that was lying on a shelf. As that was happening, Gwen began to try and bite his neck, but he kept fidgeting.

"NO, GWEN, NO!!!" cried Alyss as she watched in terror, but Gwen wouldn't stop. She couldn't stand seeing her friends being tormented. Lock and Shock some how got the handcuffs on Guinevere and the rope around her body to bind her wings to her body. As Gwen tried to break free of the rope, Oogie came through the door of the dungeon.

"What going on down here?!"

"It's Gwen again, she's gone crazy!" insisted Shock as she ran to Barrel, who only had horror to show on his face.

"Of course, only our little vampire could cause so much trouble." he said as he walked over to Gwen.

She growled at him as he approached. He stared at her with hungering eyes. He wrapped his hand around her neck. He grinned at her intensely, then applied pressure to the back of her neck. They all heard a crack as she gasped and fell to the floor with a thud. Her fangs, claws and wings immediately retraced. Lock removed the cuffs and rope. Gwen opened her eyes to reveal they were back to normal. she looked up at him with deer like eyes. He grinned at her, then struck her on the face. She fell to the floor again, holding her cheek. When she removed her hand it revealed blood.

"You're luck I'm in a good mood." he sleazily remarked as a turned and walked out the cell door, Lock, Shock and Barrel close behind him. He shut the door and locked it, turned and left the room with the 3 urchins. Alyss crawled on the floor towards Gwen and Raven ran to her side. They knelt down beside her.

"Gwen, are you ok?" Raven asked in a worried tone.

"It's fine," she reassured.

"This is just an average day, really."

Raven gulped, she wasn't sure how long she would last in this pit of hell. No, hell wouldn't be this bad.


	6. The Dream

At around 2 o' clock in the morning, everyone finally went to sleep. Raven, Alyss and Gwen huddled under a moth-eaten linen blanket, but while Gwen and Alyss slept as peacefully as you can sleep when you're lying on a stone floor, Raven tossed and turned in her sleep. She dreamed that Oogie Boogie had captured her mother.

"I don't care what you do to me, just leave my daughter alone."

"I can do whatever I want, because as long as Jack thinks I'm dead, he won't come after me."

"As soon as he finds outs that you kidnapped his daughter, he'll kill you for sure."

"Not if he never knows." he gravely threatened then he snapped her neck.

She fell to the floor; she looked more like a rag doll then ever.

"As long as her neck isn't realigned, she can't move." he said to himself. He threw her over his shoulder and walked into the darkness. She ran after him.

"What have you done to her!" she shouted, but he didn't answer.

"Answer me you bastard!" then she woke up. She was panting and sweating hard.

"Raven, are you ok?" asked Gwen.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." she stared at Raven with a worried look.

"Come on, what's wrong?"

"I think I had a dream about my mom, but I'm not sure."

"How can you not be sure?"

"I'm an orphan, I never met her, so I'm not sure if it was her or not."

"Oh, sorry, but how are you not sure?"

"Well, she looked kinda weird, like she was from this world, and I'm pretty sure I'm from the human world."

"What did she look like?"

"She looked like a living rag doll with red hair."

Gwen's eyes widened, she knew who Raven was talking about, Sally, the queen of Halloween, but she couldn't believe it, Raven looked nothing like Sally or Jack, how could she be her daughter.

"Why do you think she's you're mother?"

"I don't know, she just looked so familiar. It's probably nothing, right?"

"Right, it's nothing. Let's just go back to sleep."

"Ok, night Gwen."

"Night Raven." said Gwen sleepily as they both lied on the floor.

"Hey Raven?"

"What?"

"What happened in your dream?"

"Well, Oogie had captured her and she was begging him not to hurt me and how someone named Jack would get really mad if he did. Then he snapped her neck and said how if her neck wasn't realigned, she couldn't move, and he carried her away. Now can I please go to sleep?"

"Yeah, sure." but as Raven began to sleep, Gwen was wide-awake, trying to figure out what it all meant. Questions raced threw her mind.' Was Raven really Jack's daughter, the long lost princess of Halloween she had heard about when she was a little girl?' she thought to herself, but she was too tired to really think about it, because after 5 minutes if thinking, she was asleep.

At around 7 am, Gwen woke up to the sound of metal plates.

"Breakfast!" announced Lock annoyingly.

By the time Gwen looked up though, he was gone. Near the door of the cell were 3 plates, one with live copperhead snakes, one with flies and one with dead grass snakes. Raven and Alyss were peacefully asleep, so she decided to have breakfast by herself. She walked over and picked up a copperhead. It slithered in her grasp. She grabbed it by the head and tail and stretched it out. She licked her lips and bite right into the middle of the snake. It died on contact, like everything else she ate. She began to slurp the snake's blood. After she sucked all the blood, she threw it on Raven's plate of dead snakes, thinking she had to something with it and she needed the energy for today, she knew Raven would be the only thing on Oogie Boogie's mind. She licked her teeth in satisfaction, getting every last drop of blood. As she picked up another snake, she saw a bat hang for the ceiling, staring at her. She dropped the snake and walked over to the bat. She grabbed it by the neck and yanked it down. It squirmed in her hand.

"Come on, Spits, I know it's you." she demanded and at once, the bat turned into a purple spider.

Spits was Boogie's right-hand man, what ever he could see and hear, Oogie could see and hear, too. He was also the most annoying thing Gwen had ever bet.

"Hello, demon bat."

"Spits, we've been over this, I'm a vampire, not a demon bat."

"Same thing."

"Hey, you know everything that goes on down here, right?"

"Of course!"

"So, have you ever seen a red-haired rag doll down here?"

"Why should I tell you, it's pretty obvious that if you don't know it, Oogie doesn't want you knowing it."

Gwen was an impatient person, and she didn't want to negotiate with Spits, but she couldn't squish him because of Alyss, she had made her swear to never squish a spider.

"I guess you don't know then, it's too important for you to know about it anyway."

"What! I'll have you know that I saw her yesterday night but Oogie captured her…DAMN!"

"And what was she doing down here?"

"I've already told you too much."

Gwen squeezed him in her hand.

"You do know I can tear the limbs off your body, one leg at a time, every slowly."

"Alright, alright!" he begged gasping form air.

"She was down here trying to rescue the new girl, calming she was her daughter, but that's all I know."

"Thanks, Spits, you've been such a big help. Now buzz off!" and she flicked him into the air. Just before he hit the ground, he turned into a bat and flew off.

"Darn, he never hits the floor." she muttered to herself. She heard a yawn come from behind her.

"Gwen, what's going on?" Alyss sleepily asked rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"I thought I heard Spits."

"You did."

"What was he doing here?"

"Spying on us, what else would he be doing?"

"You didn't hurt him, did you?"

"Of course I didn't, I promised."

"That's good. Is breakfast here?"

"Yeah, it's your favorite, flies."

"Oh joy!"

"Yeah, but before we eat, let's wake up Raven. I know the perfect way." she said with a devilish smile.

"I think I now what it is and no, she's been through enough."

Alyss bent over at Raven's side and nudged her.

"Raven, Raven, time to wake up."

"Just five more minutes." she muttered.

"Come on Raven."

"No."

Gwen walked over to Alyss.

"Your doing it wrong, let me."

She knelt down at Raven's side and whispered in her ear in a threatening way,

"Raven, if you don't get you right now, I'm going to get angry like I did last night and do some serious damage to your face."

Raven jumped to her feet.

"I'm up! Don't kill me!"

"I'm not going to kill you. Now come on, breakfast is here."

"What are we having?"

"I'm having copper heads, Alyss is having flies and you," she said as she walked over to the plates and picked up the one with the dead snakes and showed it to Raven, trying to gross her out.

"Are having these."

"Well… all right."

"Wait a minute, your not grossed out by this?"

"Well, back in my world, I had an uncle at cooked rattlesnake, so this can't be any different." she explained as she picked up a snake and bite into it without hesitation. She chewed on it with enjoyment.

"Mmmm, delicious."  
"Raven, are you considered normal in the human world?"

"Not by a long shot." she replied with her mouth full and took another bite.

"I starved." announced Alyss as she crawled to her plate and began to stuff her face with flies. The others followed her example and began to eat heartily.

Suddenly, Lock, Shock and Barrel came busting through the dungeon door, carrying rope.

"Oh Raven, Oogie wants to see you." the 3 urchins called together as they opened the cell door.

"B-B-But it hasn't even been three days." stuttered Alyss.

"Tough break." demanded Lock.

"Look, if Oogie wants someone, it'll be me," insisted Gwen.

"Well the boss doesn't want you, he wants Raven." said Shock

Gwen walked over to Shock and picked her up by the collar of her dress.

"Listen you," Gwen began, but Raven interrupted her.

"No Gwen, it's ok." she insisted as she lowered Gwen's hand for her, releasing Shock.

"If Oogie wants me, then he'll get me."

"But Raven, you'll never survive, you'll-"

"Guinevere, it'll have to happen sometime, it might as well be now."

She turned to the juvenile delinquents with her arms crossed.

"Let's get this over with."

The brats lead her out of the cell and out the dungeon door.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" Gwen asked Alyss.

"She'll be fine."

"Hey, Alyss, we need to talk about Raven."

"What's wrong?"

"I think I know why Raven's here."


	7. No fear

As Lock, Shock and Barrel lead Raven to the Torture Room, Raven was thinking of a way to escape.

'If I can just get away from these twerps, maybe I can find a way out of here.' Raven thought to herself.

'Well, it's worth a shot.'

About halfway there, Raven executed her, to be honest, not well thought out plan. She smashed her elbow into Barrel's face, turned and made a run for it. She didn't know where she was going o how to get out of Oogie's lair, but she knew she had to get away, but then Lock lassoed a rope around her hands. The rope stopped short, which made Raven fall to the floor.

"Damn it!' she muttered.

"Come on, you!" demanded Lock holding the rope tight.

"I told you to tie her up!" yelled Shock.

They argued all the way to the torture chamber, Raven following behind, annoyed by their bickering. When they entered the room, the neon lights were on, making everything look like an old fashion haunted house.

"Oogie, she's here," said Barrel.

"I can see that," they heard Oogie said, but they weren't sure where he was.

"And why if she tied up?"

"She tried to escape," piped Shock.

"I see, now untie her."

"But she might try to escape again." insisted Lock

"I said UNTIE HER!" he demanded.

They began to untie her with hast then ran out of the room, shutting the door before she could even try to escape.

"I hope my boys didn't cause you too much trouble."

"I have to hand it to them though, they have impressive rope skills."

"Good, I'm so glad you 4 are getting along."

Raven began looking around, trying to find Oogie. While she was looking at the slot men, she felt something nip at the back of her neck. She grabbed her neck and turned around with a start to see that it was Oogie's snake tongue, which slithered back into Oogie's grinning mouth. Raven looked in disgust at Oogie, who was showing his delight much too obviously.

"Your snake needs to keep to himself." staring at him, making it obvious that she wasn't playing along. Oogie then placed his arms on both sides of her body, pinning her against the slot man.

"Sorry about that." he smirked, getting his face really close to hers.

"He's very curious," he said as the snake exited from his mouth again and began to wrap around her neck. She was too annoyed to take this, so she grabbed the snake by it's head and squeezed it with her fingernails, causing it to squeal in pain. She finally released it and it went back into his mouth. Oogie was getting annoyed, she wasn't afraid of him; he didn't like it when people weren't afraid of him. He picked her up by the collar of her shirt and threw her up against the slot men.

"You still don't get it do you? I could snap your neck in a second, I could break very bone in your body in an instant, I could make a life a living hell!" he bellowed as threw her across the room, where she hit the wall with a thud and crumpled to the floor. Oogie laughed with satisfaction. But then he heard a light chuckle coming from Raven. He turned around to see her getting to her feet, trying to regain her balance.

"You can hit me all you want." she said as she slowly walked over to Oogie and stared him down.

"You can try and break me, but it won't work, you pathetic excuse for a monster."

He slapped her in the face, which knock her to the floor, causing her cheek to bleed.

"If that all you've got, bug bag, come on, GIVE I YOUR BEST SHOOT!"  
"Why you insolent, little bitch!" he screamed as he picked her up and lead her to the iron maiden and threw her inside.

"So Raven is Jack's daughter!"

"I'm not sure, but it would make a lot of sense."

Just then, Oogie burst threw the door-carrying Raven. She had puncture wounds all over her body. He opened the cell door and threw her in.

"I hope you learned a lesson, Raven!" and he stormed out the door.

Gwen and Alyss ran to Raven.

"Raven! Oh my god, are you ok?" asked Gwen, but then she heard her laugh.

"Gwen, I'm fine, don't you see? I'm not afraid… I'm not afraid." then she fainted.

"God help her, Gwen spit on her, quickly!'

Gwen began to spit on Raven, the blood still pouring from the wounds.

But raven was proud of herself. She had shown Oogie no fear, no weakness and no sign that she was giving up.


	8. Crowboy

The next day, Raven was recovering from the Iron Maiden. Although she had healed perfectly thanks to Gwen's spit, they still though she should rest. She sat on the metal bed in the cell, staring at spiders as they made their webs. Gwen walked over to Raven and sat down beside her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You feeling alright, you seem a light shaken."

"Well, I was when he first put me in the Iron Maiden, but now that I think about it, it wasn't that scary."

"Yeah, well just remember we're here for you." Gwen reassured as she patted her on the back.

Then the dungeon door slowly opened to reveal a young man around Gwen's age. He had scarlet hair and bright green eyes. He wore a black t-shirt with red jean and he looked rather handsome aside from the fact that he looked like the devil.

"Guess who's back, Gwen?" he said as he walked over to the cell door.

"Oh god, not you." Gwen said in an annoyed tone.

"Come on Gwen, it's me, Charlie, remember?"

"I wish I didn't." Charlie opened the cell door and walked over to Gwen.

"Who's this? My brother didn't tell me there was someone new in the cell."

"Brother? You mean that your-"

"Yep, Raven, meet Charlie, the brother of Oogie." announced Gwen as if she died a little bit every time she mentioned him.

"Raven, huh? Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl." he said as he picked up her hand to kiss it, but she pulled it away.

"Keep your hands off me."

"Oh come now, I'm not anything like my brother."

"Yeah, your more of a perv and a drunk." Gwen remarked.

"Oh Gwen, dear, I'm heart broken, do you treat all your old boyfriends like this?"

"BOYFRIEND?"

"It's a long story."

"Ah, yes. A wonderful romance it was."

"Why in the name of God did you go out with him?"

"It was before Alyss came and was a little nuts, but then I found out that he was a drunk, so I dumped him."

"The wounds are still there."

"Cut the crap, Charlie. Why are you here?"

"I just thought I would visit my brother."

"I mean why are you here."

"Just to ask for a token of affection."

"Not if you were the last THING on Earth."

"Well then, I'm sure Raven here would appreciate a man."

"The brother of my enemy is my enemy, so no."

"Suit yourself, I have to go, the snake and spider sew is ready by now." he turned and walked out the dungeon door.

"Are you sure they're related?"  
"Actually, Charlie is Oogie's half brother."

"That explains a lot."

Then Shock came in with 3 metal plates, one filled with prey mantises, one filled with rats, and one filled with dead rats. She opened the cell door and placed the plates on the ground, then walked out.

Alyss came out of the passageway.

"I hear prey mantis!" she ran to her plate and began to stuff her face.

"Umm, Alyss, Charlie's back." Alyss swallowed hard.

"Again? God, I hate that sauced sicko."

"Oh Raven, by the way, we're sleeping in the solitaire confinement room tonight."  
"Are you crazy! You know I'm claustrophobic, there's no way I could sleep in there a whole night in there."  
"It's for your own good."

"Screw my own good, I'm sleeping out here."

"Oh well, suit yourself."

Later that night, while everyone was asleep, Raven was awoken by the sound of clinking glass. Charlie came stumbling threw the door, carrying a bottle of Vampire Merlot wine. He dropped the bottle at the front of the cell door, glass going everywhere, but no wine. He opened the cell door and move clumsily towards Raven.

"Hello, Raven." he said in a drunk tone.

"Your drunk, aren't you?"

Suddenly, he threw up, and then stumbled to regain his balance.

"What ever gave you that idea?" he moved closer to Raven, getting his face close to hers. She could smell the wine in he's breath.

"Come here, you," said Charlie then he grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him. Raven tried to push him away, or get out of his rough grasp, but it was no use, even in a drunk state he was strong. Suddenly, she felt his lips press against her own. She struggle to pull away, when Gwen came through the stone doorway of the secret passage way. As soon as she saw Raven and Charlie, she began to breath heavily and she underwent her transformation. She lunged at Charlie, tearing him away from Raven, who was still bewildered. The two of them rolled on the floor, then Gwen pinned Charlie to the ground and began to cut him to ribbons.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!! GET THIS F*CKING BITCH!!!" Charlie screamed.

Raven ran to the solitaire confinement room to wake up Alyss. She opened the door wide and screamed,

"Alyss! Alyss! Wake up! Gwen's gone crazy!"

Alyss woke with a start.

"Who is she after?"

"Charlie."  
"Oh crap! That means she's not holding back! Come on, we have to go."

Alyss got up and run back to the cell, Raven running along side her.

"Raven, you're going to have to make sure Gwen doesn't kill Charlie, I'll get Lock, Shock and Barrel."

"What? Are you nuts?"  
"It's the only way. And anyway we don't have much time."

They came to the cell to find that Gwen had already had don a lot of damage, Charlie's arm's were reduced to bone and both his legs were gone and now Gwen was taking a toll on his mouth.

"I'll get the kid's attention, get Gwen off him before it's too late." she ran to the cage and began to scream,

"Somebody help! Gwen's gone nuts! Help!"

Raven ran up to Gwen and pulled her off of Charlie.

"Gwen, stop it! Snap out of it!"

Gwen ran to Raven, ready to kill her. Raven opened her hands o catch Gwen's hands so that she could stop her, but instead, her nails sliced through her hands like a hot knife on butter. Raven screamed in pain, but this was no time to suffer, luckily her fingers gripped Gwen's hands to stop her from slicing through her hand. But Gwen hit her head against Raven's, which knocked her to the ground. Gwen was about to pounce on Raven, when Oogie grabbed her neck and pulled her back. Once again he applied pressure to the back of her neck. SNAP! She fell to the floor and transformed back. She woke up to see Oogie staring at her, she had a scared look on her face Oogie raised his hand to slap he, but Alyss came behind him and grabbed it. Oogie turned around to face her with a look of disgust on his face.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but if you're going to be hurting anybody, it should be me. Gwen and Raven don't deserve it, I do. I'm a coward who abandons my friends. So come on."

Oogie just stared at her.

"What's wrong, larva boy? Come on!"  
Oogie then grabbed her by the neck and lifted her 6 inches above the ground.

"You want it?" he said grabbing her front leg.

"Then you can have it." he slowly threatened as he slowly tore it off. Alyss let out a high-pitched squeal, piercing Raven's ears. Oogie then dropped Alyss to the ground along with her severed leg. There was dead silence, onto Charlie began to turn in his unconscious state.

"Boys! Get in here!" yelled Oogie Boogie.

The 3 children ran into the room, awaiting orders. They had been watching threw the open door.

"Lock, Shock, get Charlie to the torture room. Barrel, get your dead crow collection, we have work to do." and he walked out of the room, Lock and Shock following close behind, dragging Charlie behind them.

The next two weeks pasted by quickly, no one talked to each other because no one knew what to say. Although they were all healed up, there were still emotionally scars, no meals were brought to them and they never saw the kids or Oogie. Everyone kept to themselves. At the end of the two, while the girls were keeping to themselves, they heard the clicking of talons coming from the hallway. The door opened to show Charlie, but was warped and twisted, both his arms were replaced with crow wings, his feet were replaced with crow claws and his mouth was replaced with a beak. He stumbled into the room, still adapting to his new feet.

"Hello girl!"

"Charlie, what in Lucifer's name happened to you?" asked Gwen.  
"Well ever since you attacked me 2 weeks ago, Oogie had no choice but to rebuild me with crow parts."

"Joy." said Alyss sarcastically.

"Yes, joy and I have great news."  
"What?" asked Raven.  
"I'm staying,"

Everyone turned to face him.

"You're not serious." begged Gwen.

"I am. My brother and I made a deal. I would do him a few favor in exchange for booze, a place to stay and a piece of you ladies."

"Oh God." Raven moaned.

"Excuse me ladies, I've gotta go. Lock! Get me some of that Tombstone tequila, the surgery pain is killing me!" he yelled as he exited the room.

"We're doomed." groaned Gwen.


	9. Gabriel

Several months passed in Oogie's lair. Aside from the injuries and scars and a drunken pervert, Raven had gotten used to life as a prisoner. Gwen and Alyss had kept her enough company to go on and they kept her strong. It was around March though when things really got strange. It was lunchtime, beetles and newts. Charlie came through the door, wearing his satchel, which contained a bottle of Vampyre Vodka, rope and a syringe filled with what looked like ink. He opened the cell door and walked over to Raven. He handed her the syringe and motioned her towards the door. She knew the drill, so she followed him out the door. As they walked to the torture room, Raven examined the syringe. The point was about 6 inches long and rusty and she wondered if it was for her. When she entered the torture room finding Oogie waiting for her with his arms crossed and a frustrated look on his face.

"Good, you're here. Charlie, get the boy!"

"Yes brother." and he walked out of the room.

"What boy?"

"All in good time, babe. All in good time." he reassured while stroking her long black hair. She ignored his burlap hand, even though it really annoyed her. Suddenly, the door opened. Raven turned to face the door to see a boy. He had curly dark brown hair and caramel skin. He had hazelnut eyes that showed fear and an unsure person. He was dressed in an orange and black jester costume that was ripped and teared.

"Come on, amigo." demanded Charlie as he pushed him in. She could see that he was tied up with his hands behind his back. Charlie pushed him to the ground and left the room.

"Now, Raven, you see that guy?"

he said as he pushed her over him. He stared up at her. She could see he was confused and scared.

"I want you to take this." he lifted the hand that held the syringe.

"And stab it in his heart."

"What!? No!"

"You have 30 minutes. If you don't, I'll kill you." and he walked out the door.

"Si desatarme." he said in a weak voice.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish."

"Oh sorry. Well, could you please untie me?"

"Certainly." she said quietly. She went around to his back, but found more than tied hands. There were rips that looked like whip marks.

"What did they do to you?" she asked as she rubbed her hands on his back.

"Oh that. No, they didn't do that to me. My boss did that to me."

"Your boss?" she asked quizzically as she untied him.

"Si, I work a circus. El circo de los payasos. It's not the best place to work.

"So where are you from?"

"Chile. It's a country in South America."

Silence passed between them. It was obvious he was shy.

"My name's Gabriel. What's yours?"

"Raven." she finally untied him after about 5 minutes. He turned to face her and began to unbutton his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

He pulled his shirt back to reveal his chest.

"Do it."

"What?"

"Do it."

"But… I could never,"

"You have to. It's the only way. I couldn't live with myself if you died because of me. So do it."

"Gabriel, you don't know what it is, it could kill you." she look down at her hands and moved the syringe in them. He lifted up her chin to face him.

"Hey, sin lagrimas, I'll be fine."

Raven buried her face in his chest and began to cry. Gabriel ran his fingers through her hair in comfort. She knew what she had to do. She lifted her head out of his chest and with all her might, she stabbed the syringe into his heart and pushed the black liquid into him. He screamed in pain and pulled out the syringe and grabbed his chest in agony.

"El Diablo esta en mi vains! Sacalo! Sacalo!"

"Gabriel!"

He dropped to the floor into a ball. Just then, Oogie came through the door. Raven turned to him with anger in her heart and eyes.  
"What have you done to him?" she could hear him muttering,

"Dios me ayude, por favor, guarde mi alma."

"Let me show you." he cleared his throat.

"Gabe!" he called, immediately Gabriel's head shot up.

"Get up," he commanded and he leapt to his feet.

"What's happening to me?" he screamed, terrified.

"What do you think that drug was for? Now I control you."

"You can't, that's impossible."

"Oh yeah. Gabe… straggle yourself to death!"

Gabriel's hands quickly grabbed his neck and began to choke him. Oogie began to laugh at it as he watched his face turn blue.

"Stop it! Stop it! Make him stop!" she begged, but Oogie kept laughing.

"Stop it!" she pleaded. She then crumpled to the floor and began to cry.

"Alright, alright, Gabe stop." he commanded and Gabriel's hands relaxed, He gasped for air and the color returned to his face. He then looked at Raven, realizing she was crying. He went to her side, trying to comfort her.

"Gabe, take her back to the cell."

He grabbed her by the back of her collar and lead her out.

"Oh and by the way Gabe, you'll be sleeping with the girls. Have fun!"

"Vete al infierno, te saco de bichos! Bastardo! Usted tendra que pagar por hacer este grito hermosa nina!" Gabriel screamed this and more as he walked out the door.


	10. The Plan

It was quiet on the way back to the cell. Raven still felt guilty for what she had done and Gabriel was still confused about why he was here. As they came in the dungeon, Gwen and Alyss got to their feet, wondering who this new boy was. As they got into the cage, they ran up to Raven to see if she was ok. She didn't say anything; she just stared at her feet.

"Raven's had a long day, she doesn't want to talk about it."

"Bozo the clown, I was asking my friend." Gabriel was appalled, she was being so rude and all he wanted to do was help.

"Look, we've both had a long day and we would rather not talk about it."

"Shut up, clown, no one cares."

"Well excuse me, loba, but I'm just trying to help."

"I said shut up."

"Gwen, shut up… he's right, I'd rather not talk about it." she shrugged off Gabriel and went to the solitaire confident room.

"What's your problem?'

"MY PROBLEM? I just lose my freewill today, what's your excuse?"

"Wait a minute, that shot was for you?"

"Si"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. I didn't know you where injected with liquid control."

"Liquid control?"  
"Yeah, if you're injected with it, you loss control of yourself, so I'm guessing Oogie Boogie controls you now right?"

"Oogie Boogie? That's the name of that sack of bugs…Hahahahahahaha! You've got to be kidding!"

"Shut up! If he hears you, he'll try to kill you."

"He already did. That's probably why Raven doesn't want to talk."

"But the person that wants to control the person can't give the shot, so that means… Raven? I can't believe she was such a coward-" Gabriel then slapped her in the face, something he had never done, but this was different. Gwen looked at him in shock, not because it hurt, but because no one besides Oogie had ever slapped her

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER A COWARD! SHE IS THE SINGLE BRAVEST AND KINDESS GIRL I'VE EVER MEET. I TOLD HER TO DO IT ALL RIGHT! I…I told her to do it, I just couldn't stand seeing her get hurt because of me." he turned away from her in disgust. He didn't like being unkind to people, but Raven was willing to sacrifice her own life to save his freedom, no coward would do that. Gwen was surprised to see this man defend Raven, even though they just meet. When he turned around, she noticed the whip wounds on his back.

"Did Oogie do that to you?"

"What?"

"This." she explained as she walked over and run her fingers up and down his back.

"Oh, that, that was my boss's work."

"Boss?"  
"Yeah, I work at the circus and my boss believes in physical punishment."

"How often does he do it?"

"A lot because I'm so clumsy."

"So what did you do?"

"Well I tripped the trapeze artists during the act and that's worth 20 lashes."

"Here, let me take a look at that." she insisted and lifted up the back of his shirt. The lashes were long and deep in the skin. Some of them were still bleeding. She also found some bruises from other beatings.

"Oh, you poor thing. Let me patch that up." and she licked her hands and rubbed it on his back. The wounds and the bruises began to heal up instantly.

"Ohhh, gracias, nina blando. What is that?"

"My spit."

"Ummmmm,"

"I'm a vampire and I have healing spit."

"You know 30 minutes ago if you told me that, I would tell you that you were crazy. But now I'll believe anything."

When Gwen was finished, there wasn't a single bruise or wound on his back. His back hadn't felt this good in years. He stretched in satisfaction and gratitude.

"Oh Dios. My back hasn't felt this good in so long."

"Glad I could help."

"Listen, I owe you an apology for snapping at you earlier and for slapping you."

"It's ok, I kind of deserved it for acting like such a bitch."

"Todo esta perdonado, now I have to go see Raven."

"Kid, you really have to start speaking in English."

"I make no promises." and he walked to the wall, tapped the bricks and went to the Solitaire Confinement room. When he entered the room, he found Raven asleep in the corner. He walked over to her quietly and sat next to her. He looked over at her and saw that she was shivering in the cold and who could blame her, she was wearing shorts and a short-sleeve shirt. Upon seeing this, he took off his shirt and placed it on Raven to keep her warm. He then leaned against the wall and went to sleep. An hour passed before Raven woke up realizing that she was warm. She looked to see that Gabriel's shirt was on her. She looked up and saw Gabriel sitting against the wall sleeping. She moved next to him and draped half of his shirt over him so that they were sharing his shirt. She then laid up against his side and went back to sleep. Meanwhile, Gwen and Alyss had been talking about the possibility of Raven being Jack's daughter.

"Are you sure about this? She doesn't look anything like them."

"Yes, but in Halloween, sometimes family members don't look like their parents and that may be Raven's case."

"I'm still not sure."

"Wait a minute, I know how we can check!"

"How?"

"According to legend, every true Skellington family member has a skull-shape birthmark on the back of their neck. If Raven has one, we'll know."

"And you just remembered this?"

"I have a bad memory, ok? Now let's look. Raven's in the Solitaire Confinement Room, come on."

"We seriously need to think of a better name for that room." Alyss joked as she followed Gwen to the Solitaire Confinement Room.

"Hey Raven, can we-"

"What is it?"

"Shhh!"

"What?"

"Look."

Alyss peeked in to the room to find Gabriel and Raven huddled up against each other.  
"Ahhh, that's so sweet."

"This can wait, right Alyss?"

"Right." and they both left the room quietly to leave them to sleep.

It was around 11:30pm when Raven woke up. She turned to Gabriel to see that he was fast asleep. She got up and stretched, trying not to wake up Gabriel. She walked to the other side of the room and sat down. She stared at him with curiosity. She had so many questions; why was he being so kind to her after she had given away his freewill? Why was he here? She suddenly heard a moaning coming from Gabriel. Gabriel stretched on the floor.

"So you're finally up." said Raven. Gabriel turned to face her and smiled.

"Thanks for the blanket."

"Your welcome."

"And … I'm… I'm sorry about what happened back there."

" Hey, I told you it's fine. It's like home only I don't get wiped because I disobey." he laughed half-heartedly. He knew that he wasn't helping, but he had to try. He got up and walked over to her. He sat down beside her and patted her on the shoulder.

"Hey, if it was anyone, I'm glad it was you."

"Yeah right."

"I would have done it even if you did ask me." Raven turned to face him.

"What do you mean?"

"You just have that charismic ability. I bet you could make any man do anything."

And then it hit her. Of course, it was so obvious. Why hadn't she thought of it before? She jumped to her feet.

"Gabriel, you're a genius!" she began to pace the room.

"Yes, yes, of course, Gabriel, all I have to do is-" but when she turned to face Gabriel, he was clutching his head in anger and frustration. She knelt to his side.

"Gabriel, are you ok?"

"Get out," he ordered in deep and threatening voice that was nothing like his own.

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Raven ran for the door, but when she pulled the handle, it wouldn't budge. She suddenly heard high-pitched laughing coming from behind the door.  
"We hop it's cozy in there." laughed Lock.

"We hope you like your new friend during the full moon." cackled Shock.

"You little brats are going to pay for this!" Raven screamed.

She turned around to see that Gabriel's transformation had already begun. His hands were turning into paws, he began to grow fur all over his body, his ears became pointed, his nose turned into a snout and his teeth began to grow to enormous lengths. He looked up to face her. Although he still had the same eyes, he wasn't himself. She walked to the other side of the room, seeing as the door was of no use. His eyes followed her intensely as she crossed the room. He growled at her and she pushed herself against the wall. Her crawled to the middle of the room and faced her. She stared at him, breathing heavily. She crumpled down onto the floor, hands still against the wall. He kept growling at her, staring at her like prey. All of a sudden he bounded towards her. She shielded her face with her arms and screamed. But when nothing happened, she removed her arms and was shocked. There stood Oogie, holding Gabriel back by his neck. He threw him against the opposite wall. Gabriel fell to the floor in a furry heap, knocked out by the impact. He was still a wolf, just unconscious. Oogie turned to Raven, who was still sitting there, staring at him in blind shock. He turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him. Raven ran to Gabriel to see if he was all right. He was ok, besides some light bruising. She sat beside him and fell asleep. Gabriel, who was continuing to shake her by her shoulders, waked her up the next morning. She pushed his hands away from her in annoyance.

"What the hell do you want?"  
"Raven, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I should have told you about me being a werewolf, it's just that- "He was interrupted when Raven gave him a hug

"Don't be." she reassured.

"You just help set my plan in motion." Gabriel was in too much shock to respond.

"Thank you." she whispered and walked out the door. Gabriel just sat there with a look of ecstasy on his face. Alyss just then walked through the door and looked at Gabriel.

"Hey, what's up with you?" she asked. She looked out the door and then back at him.

"Oh my God, you like her, don't you?"

"Shhhhhhh!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." she reassured with a smile and walked out the door.

Gabriel still just sat there thinking,

'I wonder what Raven's plan is?'


	11. A Game of Dice

Raven ran out of the confinement room and into the cell.

"Charlie," she shouted.

"Charlie, get over here now!"

He didn't come. She pulled out a small bottle of rum he swiped from him for an emergency and began to slush it around. Just then, Alyss and Gwen walked through the passage way and Charlie walked into the room at the sound of booze. He tried to grab it by reaching in between the bars, but Raven pulled it back, tormenting him.

"Please, I need that rum, it's 10 years old and it's very rare in Halloween town."

"Hmm, interesting," she crooned, and then she pretended to drop the bottle.

"That's not fun."

"You can have it under one condition,"

"What? Anything!'

"I want to see your brother and now."

" You actually want to see him?"  
"You better make up your mind, this bottle is getting awfully slippery."

"Ok, ok, just give me the bottle." Charlie franticly opened the cell door. Raven shoved the rum into his hands. He quickly chugged the whole thing in one gulp. He sighed, feeling the rum's burning sensation as it slid down his throat. He then turned to Raven and remembered the deal they had just made.

"Alright, come on."

"Raven, what the hell are you doing?" shouted Gwen.

"It's all right guys, I'll be fine." she reassured as she walked with Charlie.

"I think Raven just went nuts."

"Agreed."

When they got to the torture room, Charlie told her to wait outside. While that was happening, Raven had a moment to herself and her thoughts.

'Can't believe I'm doing this. There is no way in a million years that this will work, but I have no choice and besides, it'll be a great acting challenge.'

"Alright, come on." Charlie motioned her to the door. She followed into the torture room and there was Oogie, rolling dice on the roulette table. Charlie left the room, wondering why anyone would actually want to see his brother. After a couple more rolls, Oogie turned to Raven.

"Well, you finally came, though I don't remember telling Charlie to get you."

"I came on my own terms." Oogie looked at her with a surprised look on his face.

"I just wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"Last night, Gabriel could have killed me, but you saved me."

"I just hate it when my prisoners go crazy." he turned away, slightly blushing. She knew she was getting close. Then though she would rather be kicking his ass, she had to do this.

"But you did, you could have let him kill me." Oogie wouldn't look at her. He didn't want her to see the fireflies in his cheeks give off a neon pink glow. They were getting brighter and brighter.

"And I was thinking that maybe… just maybe that you might actually care about me… and that you aren't the sadistic sack of bugs I thought you were." she thought she heard him chuckle. He chuckle then turned into insane laughter.

"Oh my, how sweet, hahahahaha! My baby doll thinks I care about her."

Raven didn't find it funny. She hated it when people laughed at her. She began to blush rapidly, and then she just got really mad. 'Screw the plan.' she thought. 'I'm not going to take this.' When Oogie finally turned to face her, still laughing, she smacked him in the face. That made him shut up.

"Look, I didn't come here to get laughed at, got it. I came here because I thought that there was some good I you, but boy was I stupid." Oogie was appalled no one talked to him like this. Nobody. He opened his mouth wide, about to scream at her, but then she put her hand in front of his face, telling him to not say anything.

"Don't worry, I'll show myself out." she turned on her heels, put her hands on her hips and sashayed towards the door. Oogie was surprised. Raven had never acted like this before… but he liked it. He couldn't let her leave now. Just as she was about to reach the door, Oogie grabbed her arm and turned her around. He held her arm fast as she struggled. When she finally gave up, he put his closed hand in front of her face. He opened it to show a pair of red dice.

"You know how to roll dice."

Raven looked at the dice then looked at him. She snatched the dice from his hands and threw them to the rotulettte table, where they landed to show 7.

"I play pretty well." she smirked. 'Maybe the plan could still work.' she thought.

"You play well, doll face, but you can't beat me." he picked up the dice and rolled snake eye. Raven giggled, trying to contain it.

"You were saying."

"Oh shut up. I bet you can't do any better."

Raven picked up the dice and rolled an 11.

"Best 2 out of 3."

"You got it, Boogie boy."

They played for hours, until it was midnight. After their 50th game, Raven was getting tired.

"Hey Oogie, you mind if I rest my eyes, I'm pretty sleepy."

"Go ahead, doll."

Raven sat up against the roulette table and fell asleep.

Raven dreamed about whom she thought was her father. He was a skeleton man with a bat bow tie. He was talking to a ghost dog.

"I don't understand it, Zero. Sally said she would be back soon, it's been months."

The dream was abruptly ended though, for one reason or another, as she woke up to feel something soft under her head and something wrapped around her.

It was dark where she was, but she could see what it was. It was Oogie's burlap arm. He had one arm under her head and his other arm wrapped around her. He lay there, sleeping peacefully beside her. In any other situation, Raven would be pissed, but she saw this as a wonderful opportunity to get even closer to him. She thought for a while about how to do this, this was a very delicate situation, one wrong move and Oogie could get mad, and she was in no position to get him mad. After a while she got an idea, it was a long shoot, but it was worth a try. She closed her eyes and slowly began to toss and turn. Oogie was slowly awakened by her movement and wondered what was happening. He looked over to see that it was Raven and assumed she was having a bad dream. He shook her until she wake up with a start. She breathed heavily to give the impression that she did have a nightmare.

"Hey, you ok doll face?"

Raven turned away from him.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine," she answered with a sense of fear in her voice.

"Come on, what's wrong?"

Raven turned to face him with a look of sadness on her face.

"I think my parents are dead," she said softly, trying to hold back tears.

"What?"

"In my dream, somebody broke into my parent's house and…"

"And what?"

"They were shoot." Raven then began to cry. She buried her face in his chest and cried harder. Oogie held her closer and stroked her hair, trying to comfort her.

"It's ok, doll. It was just a dream."

After crying for a while, she turned away from him again. Oogie placed his arm around her again and went back to sleep. It was all going great, everything was going according to plan.

'Now,' thought Raven 'for the final touch.'

She pulled her arms free from Oogie's grasp. She pleased his arm around her waist and placed her hands on his arm and hugged it tight and went to sleep. Oogie woke up from the sudden change in Raven's position. He was surprised to see Raven so comfortable with him touching her. He pulled her close to him, so her body pressed up against his own. He fell back to sleep with a grin on his face and Raven in his arms.


	12. Cats out of the bag

Several weeks passed, and Raven continued to seduce Oogie, and in the process gained his trust. Many things also changed in the weeks that passed, Charlie learned of Raven's plan, but never told Oogie, for fear that Gwen would be punished severely and even though he wouldn't admit it, he still had genuine feelings for her. Gwen had also started to get closer to Charlie as a person and started to grow rather fond of him, and as time went on, Gabriel's love for Raven grew into an undying passion, but the only person that was still aware of this was still Alyss.

"She's been gone for a while." Alyss thought, pacing the cell floor, her spider legs tapping on the cobblestone floor.

"Relax," insisted Gwen "I'm sure she's fine."

"I don't know, she's had some pretty close calls this last month."

Suddenly, the door to the dungeon opened, revealing Raven, being escorted by Charlie to the cell. Raven plopped herself down on the metal cell bed, a look of disturbance on her features. Her friend knew the expression all too well, for they knew that Oogie had been trying to make a move on her for quite some time, but of course never succeeded, seeing as Raven was still repulses by him, but never showed it in front of him, obviously.

"How bad was it?" Alyss asked after a long moment of silence.

Raven shot her a look of annoyance.

"That bad, huh?" Gwen asked sympathetically.

Raven looked up at Charlie.  
"I have to give credit to your brother, Charlie. He's pretty persistent," she said with sarcasm.

"Maybe you should stop this whole charade, Raven, it's taking a toll on you." said Alyss, more worried then ever.

"I'm too close to quit now." Raven insisted, then she remembered. "Is Gabriel done with his… cycle yet?" she asked, referring to Gabriel's transformations as a werewolf.

"It's almost morning so any minute now." Charlie reassured.

Just then, Gabriel came walking through the stone secret passageway in a sweat, drool dripping from his mouth. After seeing Raven in the room, he quickly whipped off the drool and walked towards her.

"So, how'd it go with the Boogieman today?" he asked, reading the expression on her face and knowing full well that it did not go well. He could see that she wasn't in a good mood. "Hey guys," he asked "can I talk to Raven… alone?" The three of them looked at each other and shrugged. "Alright." Charlie stated, then motioned the girls to follow him to the stone hallway, and they followed behind him.

Gabriel took a seat next to Raven, as she sat there, pondering on her thoughts. He nudged her in the shoulder, getting her attention.

"Look, Raven," he said nervously, not looking at her, down at his hands. "I really think you should quit doing this, you or someone else is going to get hurt."

Raven just shook her head and said, "You don't understand, this is the only way for us to get out. I'm tired of living in this hole."

"I know, but… if anything were to happen to you, I… I"

Raven then got up from her seat and stood in front of Gabriel. She placed both hands on either side of his face, tilted it down and kissed him on the forehead. She tilted his head back up and said, "Gabriel, don't worry, I'll be fine." Then she turned and left to the stone hallway.

Gabriel just sat there, a dumb grin on his face, not knowing that Spits had been hiding in the ceiling corner, listening and hearing the whole thing, which meant Oogie had heard and seen the whole thing.

"Boss, did you get all that?" Spits asked, knowing that Oogie would be able to hear him.

"Of course I did, you idiot!!" Oogie bellowed in anger.

"That little bone bag brat! Oh, she's going to get it now!"

"What are you going to do, Oogie?"

Oogie chuckled sinisterly. "I think it's time for some real torture."

()

Sorry about the late update guys, I've been busy lately, not to mention the horrible case of writer's block, but I'll try to update more often. I apologize for the wait.


	13. The beginning of the end

Raven and Charlie walked side-by-side to the torture chamber for Raven's usual meeting with Oogie.

"You might want to be careful today." Charlie warned.

"Why?"

"Oogie didn't seem to be in a good mood yesterday."

"Don't worry, I've got bug boy wrapped around my finger. I'll be fine."

"Let's hope so." Charlie opened the torture room door and scooted Raven inside with his giant crow wing. "Good luck." He whispered as he shut the door with a clank. Raven looked around the room. It was darker than usual and Oogie was nowhere in sight.

"Oogie?" she called in a whisper, not really certain why she was being quiet. Suddenly, something grabbed her by the neck and threw her across the room, she hit the wall with a crash, she lied on the floor in agony.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" an angry voice seethed. Raven looked up, Oogie was standing over her. She lied there, dumb struck. "Oogie, what's wrong?" she said in a timid voice. He picked her up and began to choke her, she gasped for air, "You know damn well what's wrong. You lied to me, you whore!"

She could barely breathe, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Oogie squeezed harder, "You'd better fess up, or I'll have to break that pretty little neck of yours."

Raven could take it no longer. "Alright. I lied!" Oogie dropped her. She gasped for air then looked up at him. "Yeah I lied, what are you going to do? Torture me? Molest me? It doesn't matter anymore, you sack of shit! You've already caused me so much pain, a little more isn't going to change anything! So go on, DO IT!"

Oogie just stared at her, with a blank expression; he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Raven was right, he had thought about just punishing her, but what good would do? She was a tough chick, torture wouldn't teach her anything… unless.

"You're right."

"…what?"

"Just torturing you isn't going to change anything… but torturing your friends will."

(I'm sorry the chapter's short and I'm sorry about the SUPER late update, but show choir, choir, drama, and school all together, not to mention my social life got a whole lot better, it hasn't left me time to write, well that and writers block. But I'll try to update more often. But here's my rule, I need at least one review before continuing. It's how I work, so if you like it or hate it, PLEASE speak up.)


	14. Your worst nightmare

"Well this is a fine mess you've gotten us into Raven, a fine mess indeed." Gwen said, still tugging at the chains that kept her attached to the wall. "I know," Raven said, lying on the ground, also attached to the wall. Oogie had chained Gwen, Raven and Gabriel to the wall, while he took Alyss away to the torture chamber. Charlie was left to watch them. "I can break you guys out, you know." Charlie said, holding up the keys. "Then what'll happen to you? He'll kill you." Gwen said, still clawing at the chains. "I'm not letting that happen."

"How did Oogie even find out?" Gabriel asked. "Does it matter? The more important thing is what are we going to do? Who knows what he's doing to Alyss right now." Raven lamented with tears in her eyes.

"Probably being killed." Gwen said, now teething at the chain.

"Gwen!" Gabriel yelled, Raven burst into tears.

"Well it's a strong possibility."

"No, Oogie wouldn't want to kill one of this favorite toys, he's probably doing something worse." Charlie stated, trying to think of what to do.

Raven knew this was her fault, her plan was risky and doomed to fail at one point, 'I can't believe I was so careless.' She thought.

When she heard the door open, she scrambled to wipe off her tears, not wanting Oogie to see her cry. Everyone turned their heads to see what had become of Alyss.

The scene that met their eyes was horrific. In one hand, Oogie was dragging Alyss by her short snow white hair, unconscious, red blood pouring out where her 8 legs and arms should be, leaving a long trail. In the other arm, he carried her legs and arms. Charlie, speechless, open the cage, and Oogie threw the limbs in and attached Alyss to the wall by her neck.

Oogie looked at the other 3, and then grabbed Gwen by the neck, "Your next." He pulled her, until the chains came off the wall with her. Gwen just grinned arrogantly; "Bring it." and Oogie dragged her away. Charlie felt worry consume his body, he slowly followed them.

When Charlie caught up, the torture chamber door was shut. He tried opening it to see what was going on. It was locked. Charlie's heart started beating faster; Oogie never locked the door unless he was doing something private. Nothing Oogie ever did was private, unless he was… Charlie pushed the thought out of him mind. He could bare thinking of it. Charlie's then press his ear against the door, listening to what was going on.

"So what are you going to do to me? Iron Maiden? Roulette wheel? What?"

"Oh no, I've got something special in mind for you."

"Like what?... What are you doing?"

Oogie chuckled in delight.

"Oogie, why are you staring at me like that?... Stay away from me!" her voice wasn't strong and powerful like usual, it was scared and feeble. "Get off me, Don't touch me!"

Charlie heard Gwen pleading, fabric ripping, and Oogie chuckling with joy. He heard Gwen screaming, cries for help, and something he thought he'd never hear from Gwen, her begging for mercy. After about 15 minutes he couldn't stand listening to it any longer. Knowing he couldn't do anything to save her, he ran from the room back to the dungeon, but the noise echoed in his head. Never leaving, only getting louder and louder.


	15. Welcome to hell

About an hour passed. Gabriel and Raven managed to heal Alyss with the saliva Gwen left behind. Charlie just paced the floor, worried sick of what had happened to Gwen. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for Gwen's return. Finally, after much anticipation, the door opened. All their heads turned.

Gwen slowly walked in, but she wasn't the Gwen they knew. The hair was in disarray, her eyes were red with tears she was still crying, and her skin glowed with sweat and a little blood. She held her clothes to her body, which were ripped to shreds practically. She was shaking, and the fear was in her eyes. Half way to the cage, she collapsed on the floor, weak and drained of life. Charlie ran to her side, not sure what he could do. Then Oogie appeared in the doorway with a satisfied grin in his face, and they all knew what he had done to her.

Gabriel and Raven were filled with shock and horror. They tried to deny what happened, what the evidence to lying before them, in Charlie's wings. Charlie was in shock, he felt a sadness he had never felt before. How could he have let this happen? The only girl he ever cared about now was an empty shell of a girl. Oogie just chuckled and walked over to them, "So Gwen? Did you enjoy yourself?"

As soon as Gwen heard his voice, she scrambled into Charlie's wings, and just cried. That's all she could do. For the first time in 5 years, Gwen was afraid of Oogie. Charlie looked at the girl in his arms; she was like a small weak animal. As soon as Oogie heard her crying, he couldn't contain his joy, and laughed horribly. Then the rage began to build in Charlie, pure hatred, for his brother.

He slowly got up and faced Oogie. "You heartless fat sack of bugs! I'll kill you!" Charlie ran at Oogie, with only vengeance in his mind. But before he could do anything, Oogie grabbed his beak, and held it tight. "Bad move, bird brain." He said in a murderous voice, and in a second, he ripped the beak off Charlie's face. Blood gushed out, Charlie screamed, but he couldn't, because he didn't have a mouth, only a gaping hole on his face. He was in shock. Oogie quickly dragged Gwen and Charlie into the cage and attached them to the wall. He dropped Charlie's beak beside him. Then he turned to Gabriel. Raven knew what was coming.

Oogie unlocked Gabriel's chain. "Gabriel, stand up." And he did, not being able to control himself. "Now go and wait for me in the torture room." Gabriel exited the room. Raven stood up, "Gabriel, NO!" she ran after him, but didn't get very far; the chains on her neck snapped her back. Oogie laughed at her feeble attempt and began to walk away, then he stopped and turned and said, "Oh, and by the way, your little boyfriend isn't coming back, well… not in one piece anyways." Then he laughed hysterically and left the room, leaving the door open, since everyone was chained to the wall.

Raven cried out to Gabriel, but she knew it was no use. She looked around her, and she knew now, she was officially in hell. Alyss was unconscious and scared for life, Gwen was finally broken, Charlie was in shock, and Gabriel was moving like a puppet on death row.

'This is all my fault.'


End file.
